Authenticity: an Elusive Aspect of Pronunciation Work

Abstract

This paper looks at the concept of authenticity in oral discourse, and at English language models used in the classroom. These increasingly feature spontaneous speech rather than "careful speech", a difference largely reflected in stress placement and syllable reduction in English speech rhythm: the suprasegmental structure that has its basis in the acoustic prominence and non-prominence of syllables. The notion of authentic acoustic materials for L2 language models figures officially in the French secondary school syllabus, as reported in a publication by the French Inspection générale (2000). The report calls for a systematic effort to dispel opaqueness in the stream of speech. In order to characterize "authentic speech material", we have briefly examined listening strategies in two popular English language workbooks, Bridges 2e and New Missions 2de. We conclude that effective listening involves gradually presenting authentic discourse as a perception model, leading to better assimilation of native or fluent speech.